Sunday, December 23, 2007

Queen of the Sloths

Every day for the next 11 days, my first thought will be, "You're on vacation!" You have to hear it the way my mom says it--"You're onnnn...vay-caaaay-tion!" She says it like it's some kind of revelation. Which, of course, it is.

My entire agenda for today is:

- Knit and watch the second half of Bridget Jones's Diary, which is and ever shall be one of my most favorite movies; I'm just at the part where she's leaving the Smug Married dinner party, and Mark Darcy tells her he likes her just as she is. And it only gets better from here! Hi-larious. And totally moving, in a weird kind of way. I love it.

- Go see Juno in Berkeley

- Church

- Whatever post-church trouble/merriment I can find

- More deadline-induced knitting

If I am very, very virtuous (or very, very hungry), I might head over to Farmer Joe's to see if they have mangoes. Or if anybody's selling tamales in the parking lot, because Christmas Eve-Eve tamales = delicious.

See how interesting I am? But it's the best kind of boring.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

12 of 12: December

Hey! I remembered! (See? My failure to complete the 1-11 meme imprinted enough guilt on my brain that I couldn't forget. Genius!)


7:02 - Awake, kind of.



7:57 - Oh, Grand Lake Theater. Never change!



8:05 - Yes, I live in California, and yes, I dress for the Arctic. Mornings are chilly, okay?



10:20 - My first Christmas present of the year--from a coworker. It was an amaryllis plant. Pretty!



10:40 - Isn't it weird to think that this will someday be a Tangled Yoke Cardigan?



4:48 - Getting off work before dark, technically. I call this a win.



5:03 - There really is nothing better than coming home from a long, hard day and finding Arrested Development in your mailbox...



5:04 - ...unless it's Arrested Development and garlic-flavored crackers with garlic hummus. I just can't imagine why I'm single!



8:15 - I actually did go to crew practice after my snack break. It wasn't very photographable: dark and wet. But the post-practice pile on the bathroom floor doesn't lie.



8:48 - Frankly, the only dinner for which I had the energy or presence of mind.



8:49 - Entertaining myself while the spaghetti cooks. I'm finally, finally reading Persepolis. So far, so good.



9:02 - Speaking of long, hard days: Lee Pace, take me away! (Sad episode, though.)

See you for 12/12 '08!

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

0 of 4; 5 of 5

Four of four got a little out of hand, in the sense that it...kind of didn't happen. Moving on!

Welcome to Wednesday evening, the only quiet night of my week.


5:34 - Christmas music!



7:37 - Recipe for the best easy fall dinner ever: Chop 1 apple, 1 turkey/chicken sausage, and 1/4 to 1/2 of 1 member of the onion family. Saute until everything's a little softer and browner than it was raw. Enjoy!



7:45 - I've had Kiss Kiss Bang Bang from Netflix since approximately the dawn of time, but I know I'm going to love it. Robert Downey, Jr. in a heist movie! PERFECTION. I watched the first five minutes and then Luke came over for some sash-sewing action, which I would have photographed except that I already took that picture on Monday.



10:25 - The cabled beanie, take two. I'm just starting the decreases for the top, but doesn't it look better? Less yarmulke-like?



11:30 cheater - What I'll be doing right before bed. I've been working on this puzzle for ages now, but I'm determined to finish. I'm still finding answers fairly steadily.

Good night! Happy 6 of 6 tomorrow.

Monday, December 03, 2007

3 of 3

Aha! On time and everything. December 3, ladies and gentlemen:


11:25 - SO MUCH WORK. Ack!


5:02 - Getting dark already!


9:23 - More sashes; we've got our system worked out now. Five down, twenty to go!

Tomorrow: on to 4 of 4. See how this goes?

2 of 2

I know. I know! Late already.


3:36 - My living room as a sweatshop. Luke and I volunteered to sew/hem 25 chiffon sashes for the women in our choir; turns out working with chiffon is like trying to sew fog together. But Christine and Christine offered their help, and Luke's serger will save the day, and we will have our 25 sashes by the time of the concert (Sunday and Monday, December 16 and 17, for anybody interested)! It's going to get done.

My apartment still looks this way--three hours of work yielded a few well-measured pieces of fabric, some diagrams and planning sheets, and exactly one (admittedly beautiful) sash. Since we have twenty-four left to cut and serge, we decided to leave the Young Adult Choir Wal-Mart Express up and running.

Any mess in the name of choir is so worth it, though. It's hard to express to people who've never been in a choir what it's like. It's even harder to express to people who've never been in this choir what it's like. I'm no vocal prodigy, but I love this choir. I love standing in the middle of the group and getting so carried away with the sound of us that I almost forget to sing. I love Monday night rehearsal, and post-practice trips to Yogurt Park for yogurt or Triple Rock for cheese fries and a cider. I love that I know people now that I never would have met otherwise, and I get to call them my friends. I love that the music stays with me all week--I know I'm not the only one that practices in the car, in my office, and in my head. Sometimes our songs catch me off guard, so that I realize that what we're singing is exactly right for my life in some moment, and it can't possibly be accidental. Can it? The whole experience has blessed me in a way that I never could have expected and wouldn't trade for much of anything.


11:47 - Stayed out too late on post-Hanging of the Greens energy. BED!

Saturday, December 01, 2007

1 of 1

Once upon a time there was a meme/internet art project called 12 of 12. Remember? Twelve pictures on the twelfth of the month? Endless photos of me waking up in the morning? Well, see, the thing is: I'm a space cadet. I managed to forget 12 of 12 not once, but three months in a row. But I want to get back on the proverbial horse and try to remember. And so I'm taking on my own little project to drill it into my brain: this month I'm going to work up to it. One photo today, two on the second, three on the third, and eventually it will be 12 of 12, and I'll be so tired of photographing things that I won't be able to forget. I'm a harsh disciplinarian, yo.

And so:


4:02 - At my friend Kristin's birthday party. Today is her actual birthday. Happy birthday, Kristin!

Tomorrow: Two of two!

Mug(ging) shot

I've been ignoring my blog this week because I haven't wanted to write about something that happened to me, but I feel like not writing about it actually makes it worse, because what's the point of writing at all if not to tell the truth? And so I say it: I got mugged.

When you tell someone you got mugged--and it's hard to know who to tell and how big of a deal it should be--there are so many questions. The answers to those questions are: Monday night, nine o'clock, walking from my car to my building; it was scary; they took my purse but didn't hurt me; the police came and I cancelled all of my cards; I hope it never happens again. Also, I hate the term "mugged." It's like detective slang. So dramatic! But I tried telling people my purse was stolen, and it wasn't the same--they thought I'd left it somewhere instead of having it taken from me. There's a big difference.

Anyway, I'm okay. I'm slowly refilling my wallet--actually, I haven't gotten a new wallet yet, but I'm working on replacing all of the things they took. I'm back to feeling safe in my apartment, and I'm sleeping well. I'm coming home alone tonight for the first time, and realizing that the worst thing I lost was my self-confidence; I hate that I've been thinking all day about that walk down the street, and that I'd suddenly really love it if I could have a personal bodyguard to walk me home at night. It's a bad feeling. And I hear it goes away, but I wish it would leave a little sooner.